Lot 132
Jiří Kolář (1914 - 2002) A MYSTERIOUS RIDER

53 x 40,5 cm (h x w)

Starting price
70 000 CZK
   |   2 800 €
Kolář's appeal to human curiosity is presented with this unique shrouded work. What is hiding underneath it? Will the viewer cave in to curiosity or not? Will they lift the veil? The form of execution forces the viewer to participate and come into direct contact with the work. "When I later discovered the need to cover my gender, as evidenced in primitive cultures, and when I added everything I knew about covering memorials ... nothing stood in my way to use the poetry that every shroud covers." Those who gather the courage to lift the shroud of mystery, despite the general belief that one should look at works of art from a respectful distance, can see Kolář's characteristic work combined with several of his techniques. The basis is chiasmage, hundreds of connected torn bits of paper, covered in the center by an equestrian image applied using muchlage, which is worn through in the middle – commemorating his close friend František Sklenička, who led him to the technique. Using a razor, Kolář cut up "Limb and Other Poems", a copy of which had been lent to him. The worn away section in the middle reveals another layer of the work with a mysterious subject. Cited in: Jiří Kolář: Slovník metod, okřídlený osel. Jiří Kolář, Gilbert Lascault, Vladimír Karfík. Gallery, 1999. ISBN: 80–86010–17–1.

More works from auction